own handwriting
bear witness against me. If I reach the harbour unpursued I will leave
Arabella behind unhurt. Till then I shall look upon her as a hostage,
Marwood." Now you know all, Sara! Here, Sir, preserve this paper! You
must bring the murderess to punishment, and for this it is
indispensable.--How motionless he stands!

SARA.

Give me this paper, Mellefont! I will convince myself with my own eyes
(_he hands it to her and she looks at it for a moment_). Shall I still
have sufficient strength? (_tears it_.)

MELLEFONT.

What are you doing, Sara!

SARA.

Marwood will not escape her fate; but neither you nor my father shall
be her accusers. I die, and forgive the hand through which God chastens
me. Alas, my father, what gloomy grief has taken hold of you? I love
you still, Mellefont, and if loving you is a crime, how guilty shall I
enter yonder world! Would I might hope, dearest father, that you would
receive a son in place of a daughter! And with him you will have a
daughter too, if you will acknowledge Arabella as such. You must fetch
her back, Mellefont; her mother may escape. Since my father loves me,
why should I not be allowed to deal with this love as with a legacy? I
bequeath this fatherly love to you and Arabella. Speak now and then to
her of a friend from whose example she may learn to be on her guard
against love. A last blessing, my father!--Who would venture to judge
the ways of the Highest?--Console your master, Waitwell! But you too
stand there in grief and despair, you who lose in me neither a lover
nor a daughter?

SIR WILLIAM.

We ought to be giving you courage, and your dying eyes are giving it to
us. No more, my earthly daughter--half angel already; of what avail can
the blessing of a mourning father be to a spirit upon whom all the
blessings of heaven flow? Leave me a ray of the light which raises you
so far above everything human. Or pray to God, who hears no prayer so
surely as that of a pious and departing soul--pray to Him that this day
may be the last of my life also!

SARA.

God must let the virtue which has been tested remain long in this world
as an example; only the weak virtue which would perhaps succumb to too
many temptations is quickly raised above the dangerous confines of the
earth. For whom do these tears flow